E 
C43 



^nti^Sl^iv>'M:*y Manimscmccs. 



■iitXF 



mm 



ELIZABETH BUFFUM CHACE. 






ANTI-SLAVERY ^/^ 



REMINISCENCES. 



ELIZABETH RUFFUM CHACE. 



CKXTIIAL FALLS, R. L 

E. L. I'REEMAN & SON, STATE PKINTEK. 

189L 



,^^ iJicJl' /^, 






utLd^-'^'-- ^^-"^ 






^elovfrt ^ou ami gaughtevis;, 

I DEDICATE Tins IJECOUD OF A I'OIJTIOX OF MY LIFE, 

IX THE UE.MK.MBHAXCE OF WIIIOH, 

AMONO IIAXV FAII.IHKS AXD SIIOKT-COJIIXGS, 

I XOAV, IX THE 

EIGHTY-FIFTH YEAR OF MY AGE, 

FIXl) THE MOST EXTIKE SATISFACTIOX. 

AXD I HOPE THAT THEY AXD THEIK CHILDKEX 

MAY GATHER THEREFROM 

SOME LESSOXS OF 

ADHEREXCE TO I'RIXCII'LE AXD DEVOTIOX TO DUTY, 

AT WHATEVER COST 

<»F WORLDLY TROSPERITY OR ADVAXCEJIEXT. 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 



M 



Y Anti Slavery reminiscences date back to a 
very earl}^ period in my life. My maternal 
ancestor, Daniel Gould, came from England, and 
settled in Newport, Rhode Island, in the year 
1G37. He became a member of the Society of 
Friends, commonly called Quakers ; and, marry- 
ing the daughter of John Coggeshall, the first 
President of the Aquidneck Colony, who was also 
a Quaker, the descendants of the two families, 
for many generations, must have constituted a 
large portion of the society of Friends there — the 
first date of the existence of said society, in its 
original Book of Discipline, being 1675. The town 
of Newport became a slave market; and I have rea- 
son to believe that these Quaker ancestors of mine, 
in common with other commercial citizens of that 
seaport, were somewhat implicated in the African 



6 ANTT-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 

slave trade. But, the spirit of early Quakerism 
could not wholly sanction this terrible iniquity ; 
and so, as early as 1727 the yearly meeting began 
to issue advices and remonstrances against it; the 
first recorded being as follows : " It is the sense of 
this meeting, that the importation of Negroes from 
their native country is not a commendable practice, 
and that practice is censured b}^ this meeting." In 
1760 the yearly meeting issued another advice to 
Friends ''to keep their hands clear of this uni-ight- 
eous gain of oppression," and yet without abso- 
lute prohibition. In 1773, '' It is recommended to 
Friends, who have slaves in possession, to treat 
them with tenderness, impress God's fear in tluMr 
minds, promote their attending })laces of religious 
worship, and give those who are young, at least, so 
much learning that they may be capable of read- 
ing." The same year, they also advise that ''the 
young, and also the aged and impotent, be set free." 
The last record in the Book of Discipline is dated 
1780, and disposes of the matter thus: "Agreed, 
that no friend iin[)ort, or any ways purchase, dis- 
pose of, or hold mankind as slaves ; but, that all 
those who have been held in a state of slavery, be 
discliariicd therefrom ; that all those be used well 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 7 

who are under friends' care, and are not in circum- 
stances, through non-age or incapacity, to minister 
to their own necessities ; and that they give to 
those Avho are young, such an education as be- 
comes Christians, and encourage others in a relig- 
ious and virtuous life." Thus, the New England 
Yearly Meeting, held in Newport, Rhode Island, 
abolished slavery among its members, in the year 
1780, while it was still legalized by the New Eng- 
land States. 

My grandmother, Sarah Gould, was born near the 
year 1737, and her father, James Coggeshall, soon 
after her birth, purchased a little African girl, from 
a slave-ship just come into port, to serve as nurse- 
maid to the child. She remained a slave in the 
household, until the Friends abolished slavery 
among themselves in 1780, when, becoming a free 
woman, she established herself as a cake-maker and 
confectioner in the town, and lived esteemed and 
respected to a very old age. In my very infancy, 
my mother used to tell to my sisters and myself, 
the story of this girl, Morier, who was stolen from 
her home and brought up a slave in our great- 
grandfather's house; and of the strength of her 
attachment to our grandmother, whom she nursed 



8 ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 

in infancy. jNFy mother remembered, «ns a child, 
licr frefiuent visits to the liomestead, and tlie affec- 
tionate welcome Avhich always greeted her there. 
But, in all this story, which made a strong impres- 
sion on our minds, our gentle mother gave us no 
idea that she thought it was ever right to buy little 
girls and liold them as slaves, although it, was done 
by her own grandfather; so that we never had any 
predilections in favor of slavery. 

My paternal gi'andfather, William JUifl'um, of 
Smithfield, also a (^)uaker, was a member of the 
Rhode Island Society for the gradual abolition of 
slavery ; which was probably oi-ganized near the 
time when slavery was abolished in the State. 

When my father, Arnold lUifPum, was a child, it 
was not uncommon for fugitive slaves from New 
York, to seek refuge in Rhode Island; although the 
United States Constitution guaranteed to the slave- 
holder, the right to recapture them in any part of 
the country. ( )n one occasion, a whole family who 
had escaped, and been for some months in hiding, 
came to my grandfather's house. They were estab- 
lished in a I'aim house near the homestead, and 
enn)loyment was furnished to the father and the 
older childi'cn. In a slioi't time, their place of 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. « 

refuge was discovered, and one day, the slave- 
master from New York, accompanied by an officer, 
came riding up from Providence to arrest them. 
Tlie neighbors were hastily summoned, and with 
the household of my grandfather, formed a human 
barricade, opposed to their entrance through the 
gates. A smart young colored laborer, who had 
become attached to one of the fugitive's daughters, 
brandished a knife before the slave catchers, and 
threatened to ''pudding" them, if they did not 
depart; and the calm determination, with, perhaps, 
some wiser threats of the assembled and constantly 
increasing company of defenders, succeeded in driv- 
ing them away without their prey ; and the fam- 
ily remained without further molestation. In my 
childhood, my father used to tell us how, as a little 
boy, he stood between Pedro's knees, and listened 
to his tales of the sufferings of the slaves, of their 
capture in Africa, the miseries of the slave-ship, and 
of his own adventures in the escape with his family; 
the fond father ending by placing his hand on the 
curly head of his youngest child, and exclaiming, 
"And Pedro love Cuffie better than all his chillen, 
cause he be free born." And so, my father became 
an abolitionist in his childhood ; and his detesta- 



10 ANTI-SLAVEKY REMINISCENCES. 

tation of the "sum of all villanies," grew with his 
growth and strengthened with his strength, and 
never weakened or wavered throughout his long life. 
I think when the Colonization Society Avas foi-med, 
he gave in his adhesion to that, in the belief, shared 
by many other good men, that tliis was the way out 
of the terrible evil. When Benjamin liundy came 
with his appeals for gradual abolition, he hopped for 
rescue by this means, but, Avhen William Lloyd 
Garrison raised the cry for " immediate and uncon- 
ditional emancipation," m}^ father's clear head, his 
tender heart, and his unshrinking conscience, em- 
braced, without doubt or question, the principles of 
the Garrisonian Anti-Slavery movement. He be- 
came the first President of the New p]ngland Anti- 
Slavery Society, and lived and labored in and for 
the cause for many years, though obloquy and per- 
secution pursued and assailed him therefor. Thus 
was I born and baptized into the Anti-Slavery 
spirit. Our family were all Abolitionists. 

Never, in our large household, do I recall one 
word short of condemnation of the vile system. In 
our minds there were no palliating circumstances. 
The slave-holders were man-stealers ; and, as one of 
the earliest of the lectvn'crs used constantly to de- 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 11 

clare, they must " quit stealing." When I married, 
and my husband's attention was called to the ques- 
tion, he readily accepted the Anti-Slavery princi- 
ples, and remained faithful thereto, during his life. 
Up to the time of the issue of the first number of 
the Liberator, in the year 1831, we had believed there 
should be devised some scheme for gradual emanci- 
pation, as did our father. Soon after that, when he 
came to m^- home at Fall River, and brought us the 
new paper, and told us of having met Garrison and 
heard his arguments, and how the New England So- 
ciety had been formed, I remember asking him if he 
thought it would be quite safe to set the slaves free all 
at once. In a few Avords, he dispelled, once for all, 
that illusion from my mind; and from that hour we 
were all Garrisonians. I remember well, how 
eager we were, in our revived Anti-Slavery zeal, to 
present the cause of the slave to everybody we met; 
not doubting that, when their attention was called 
to it, they would be ready, as we were, to demand 
his immediate emancipation. But, alas! their com- 
mercial relations, their political associations, and 
with many, their religious fellowship with the peo- 
ple of the South, so blinded the eyes, hardened the 
hearts and stifled the consciences of the North, that 



12 ANTI-SLAVEPvY REMINISCENCES, 

we found very few people who were ready to give 
any countenance or support to the new Anti- 
Shxvery movement. 

My fatlior and mother were, by inheritance, by 
education and by conviction, members of tlie 
Society of Friends ; and were devoted to its piiiici- 
ples, its service and mode of worsliip; and their 
chikh-en, being also birth-right members, had been 
taught great reverence and respect for its ministers 
and elders, as well as for all the doctrines and 
peculiar customs of the Society. The idea of 
infallibility, without using the word, was at that 
time, strong in the family mind. So, from the 
Friends surely, we expected sympathy and co- 
opei'ation. But, as we met them, individually or 
in groups, and made our appeal for the slave, we 
were shocked to find that even they, whose fore- 
fathers had abolished slavery among themselves, 
while it was still legalized by the State, and had 
inserted in their Book of Discipline, the advice to 
be often read, "That Friends be careful to maintain 
our testimony faithfully against slavery," had be- 
come so demoralized, that they too, with rare ex- 
ceptions, shut their eyes to the great iniquity. 
They objected to the strong, denunciatory language 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 13 

of the Liberator ; they disapproved of Friends 
uniting with other people in public meetings or in 
philanthropic work ; they did not think the slaves 
should be set free all at once, and they did not 
want their daughters to marry negroes. I remem- 
ber making an appeal to a Quaker brother-in-law 
of mine, by asking him if he did not think the 
slaves should be freed, and his only reply Avas, 
''I shouldn't want to see a black man sitting on 
the sofa beside my daughter." 

We went to our yearly meeting at Newport, and 
there, slavery was the chief topic of conversation, 
at the hotel where many Friends were staying ; so 
stirred were people everywhere, either for or against 
the system, by the new awakening. But alinost 
everybody was against us. They denounced the 
Liberator; Garrison was an infidel ; slavery could 
only be cut off gradually ; the colored race must 
be colonized in Africa. Joseph Bowne, a distin- 
guished preacher from New York, was heard to 
declare, that, if he could set all the slaves free, 
within thirty years, by turning over his hand, he 
would not do it. In the meeting, we were cau- 
tioned by our ministers, not to give way to excite- 
ment, but to keep "in the quiet, and wait for Divine 



14 ANTI-SLAVEIIY REMINISCENCES. 

guidance ; and not to unite with people outside of 
our religious society, in public undertakings. Those 
who had already made tlietnselves obnoxious in 
these ways, were ignored in the appointment of 
committees; and some who stood on standing com- 
mittees, were dropped therefrom. There was a 
general treatment of such as were known to be 
Abolitionists, as suspicious persons — persons to be 
overlooked and avoidc(l. 

I had, from my childhood, been a devout believer 
in and defender of orthodox (^)uakerism. I had 
been Overseer of the Poor, in Swanzcy monthly 
meeting, its assistant clerk, and finally its clerk; 
and had been, in various ways, "made use of," as 
the phrase was in the Society. I wore the Quaker 
costume in its entirety, and had never said "you " 
to a single person in my life, or given the title of 
" Mr." or " Mrs." to anybod3\ I was constant in the 
attendance of our religious meetings, and firmly 
believed in the efficacy of our simple, and as we 
called them, unceremonious modes of worship. 
But, to be an Abolitionist, put me down among the 
ostracized. I remember, on one occasion, at the 
yearly meeting, when an epistle, prei)ared to be 
sent to a distant vearly mectini;-, was read bv the 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 15 

clerk and presented for approval, which contained 
the usual formula of the declaration of our testi- 
mony against the enslavement of " Africans," I 
objected to this designation, as most of the slaves in 
this country, at that time, were natives of America. 
Another Anti-Slavery woman seconded my remon- 
strance, and finally the word was changed. We 
afterward learned, that a friend present from Phila- 
delphia, inquired who those young women were, and 
expressed her surprise that our protest was heeded, 
" as such a proposal coming from a person in the 
body of the house, would be entirely unnoticed in 
Philadelphia yearly meeting." 

At that time, the prejudice against color, through- 
out New England, was even stronger than the pro- 
slavery spirit. On one occasion, my husband and 
myself went to Boston, to attend the annual 
meeting of the New England Anti-Slavery So- 
ciety. Accompanied by a gentleman friend, we 
drove to Taunton from Fall River, there to take 
the railroad, which I think, at that time, furnished 
only one car for the journey. As we entered the 
car, Samuel Rodman, an Anti-Slavery man from 
New Bedford, and a highly respectable, well-dressed 
colored man and his wife, from the same town, took 



16 ANTI-SLAVEHV REMINISCENCES. 

seats therein also. The coiuluctor came and 
ordered the colored people to leave the car. We 
all remonstrated, of course, but without avail. He 
called the superintendent, who peremptoril}^ re- 
})eated the order. They got out quietly, and we 
did the same, (but not so quietly,) and retired to 
the waiting-room, leaving the car empty. The 
officials held a conference outside, and the conduc- 
tor soon informed us that an extra car had been put 
on for the negroes, and invited us to take the seats 
we had left. We held a little conference among 
ourselves, and then every one of us entered the car 
with the colored people. The sujx'rintendeiit was 
very angry, but he did not (piite dare to order us 
out, so he assured us that our conduct would avail 
nothing, for no negroes would ever be permitted to 
be mixed U[) with white |)eople on that road. They 
were mixed up with us, however, on that day, and 
we found them intelligent, agreeable companions. 

In some cases, persons who were opposed to 
slavery and were willing to woi-k for its abolition, 
still strongly objected to any association with 
colored persons in their Anti-Slavery labors. W'c 
organized a I'emale Anti-Slavery Society at Fall 
Iviver, about the year 183"). In the village were a 



ANTI-8LAVERY REMINISCENCES. 17 

few very respectable young col(3red women, who 
came to our meetings. One evening, soon after the 
Society was formed, my sister and myself went to 
them and invited them to join. This raised such a 
storm among some of the leading members, that for 
a time, it threatened the dissolution of the Society. 
They said they had no objection to these women 
attending the meetings, and they were willing to 
help and encourage them in every way, but they 
did not think it was at all proper to invite them to 
join the Society, thus putting them on an equality 
with ourselves. We maintained our ground, how- 
ever, and the colored women were admitted. =•' 

At one time, when we had an Anti-Slavery Con- 
vention at Fall River, a large number of visitors 
dined at our house. Among them were the two 
New Bedford people, who had so shocked the sensi- 

* I regret to be obliged, as a faithful chronicler of my Anti-Slavery 
experiences, to state, that in the year 1877, twelve years after the 
abolition of slavery, and many more years after the admission of col- 
ored children into the public schools of the city of Providence, my 
daughters and myself were compelled, conscientiously, to resign our 
membership in the Ehode Island Women's Club, because that body 
refused admission to a highly respectable, well-educated woman, solely 
on account of the color of her skin, although she had been a teacher 
of a colored school in that city for twenty -five years. 



18 ANTI-SIAVEUY llEMINISCENCES. 

bilities of tlie railroad ofiicials at Taimloii, and. I 
think, Charles Lenox llenioud, a young colored 
Anti-Slavery orator. We had then in our house, in 
some useful capacity, a devoted l^)aptist woman, 
who usually sat at the family table. When the 
dinner was ready, I asked her to come. She replied, 
" No ; I don't eat with niggers." When the dinner 
was over and the guests had retired to the parlor, I 
called her again. And again she answered, '' No ; 
I don't eat inith niggers nor after 'em." Whether 
she went hungry that day, I never inquired. 

In the year 1839, my husband and myself re- 
moved with our family to Valley Falls, Rhode 
Island, bringing our Anti-Slavery principles with 
us. And, tliough he had been a consistent Friend 
from his youth up, and I remained clerk of Swan- 
zey monthly meeting, until obliged to resign on 
account of our removal, the certificate they gave us 
to Providence monthly meeting, was deficient in 
respect to our standing, in that it omitted the usual 
acknowledgment that we were " of orderly lives and 
conversation," and only declared our membership in 
the Society. 

Our Anti-Slavery attitude soon put us under the 
ban of disapproval among Providence Friends. 



ANTI-KLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 19 

One day, soon after our removal, 1 was walking 
on the street in the city, when the leading minister 
of Providence monthly meeting, overtook me, and 
greeted me very cordially. Walking beside me, he 
told me that he and his wife, (also a minister,) 
intended to call on us soon. I assured him of a 
hearty welcome. And then 1 remembered that I 
had in m}^ pocket, an address to American Friends, 
on their inconsistent attitude toward the slavery 
<|uestion, by Joseph Sturge, an eminent English 
Friend, who had recently travelled in this country, 
and who had been an active laborer in the Anti- 
Slavery cause at home. I asked the friend if he 
ha<l seen it, and he said he had not, and I gave 
him the copy I had with me. His manner toward 
me changed at once, and he soon left me, and the 
proposed call from himself and his wife was never 
made. 

Within a few years following our removal to 
Rhode Island, man\^ occurrences took place, which 
proved that the Society of Friends in this countiy, 
was forgetful of its earlier record, and, like the other 
churches, had submitted to the domination of the 
slave-holding power, Uxbridge monthly meeting- 
disowned Abby Kelley for Anti-Slavery lectur- 



20 ANTI-SLAVEKY REMINISCENCES. 

ing, although they did so, ostensibly, on some 
frivolous charges, which had no real foundation in 
fact. Smithfield monthly meeting disowned my 
father, on charges which he proved to them were 
false, and when he did so, and remonstrated against 
their threatened action, he was assured by the lead- 
ing authority in the meeting, that it could "all be 
amicably settled, if he would give up this aboli- 
tion lecturing," thus admitting that this was the 
offence for wdiich he was to be disowned. Sev- 
eral persons, in various parts of the country, were 
forcibly carried out of Friends' meetings, for at- 
tempting therein to urge upon friends the duty 
" to maintain faithfully their testimony against 
slavery." as their Discipline required. A few meet- 
ing houses in country places, had been opened for 
Anti-Slavery meetings ; whereupon, our New Eng- 
land Yearly Meeting adopted a rule, that no meet- 
ing house, under its jurisdiction, should be opened, 
except for the meetings of our religious Society. 

During those years, I could not helj) feeling a 
sense of grave resi)onsibility for tliese unrighteous 
proceedings, so long as I remained a member of the 
Society, and my mind was deeply exercised con- 
cerning my duty in the matter. Other Anti-Slavery 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 21 

friends thought it was best to remain in the Society, 
and strive to reform these abuses. But, we were 
few in number ; and the great body of Quakerism 
in the country was against us. Our lips were 
sealed in the meetings, and, out of meetings, we 
were in disgrace — "despised and rejected." One 
young Friend in Massachusetts, had written a very 
earnest, open letter to Friends, in remonstrance for 
their pro-slavery position. He was universally 
condemned by all the powerful influences of the 
Society. Talking with one of the most influential 
members of our Yearly Meeting, who expressed 
strong condemnation of this young man's presump- 
tion, I said, " But is not what he says, true?" And 
he replied, " Well, thee may be sure, it will cer- 
tainly kill him as a Friend." 

No belief in Papal infallibility, was ever stronger 
in the Catholic mind, than was the assumption 
(not expressed in words) that the Society could do 
no wrong ; and that, on this question of slavery, 
silence should be maintained ; and no reproof, ex- 
hortation or entreaty against the pro-slavery atti- 
tude of the Society, should be tolerated. The claim 
of Friends, that the transaction of their Society 
affairs, should be under the immediate inspiration 



22 ANTI-SLAVERY llEMINIRCENCES. 

and miidancc of tlic Holy Spirit, so beautifully set 
fortli iu many of their writings and sermons, as 
well as required in their Discipline, was sometimes 
perverted, to authorize proceedings and actions 
Avhich were far from being holy. 

Finally, after a long struggle, I was compelled, 
in order to secure my own peace of mind, to resign 
my membership in the Society, to which, from my 
chiklhood, I had been most devoutly attached. 
]\Iy husl)and remained in the meeting, and the 
separation between the Wilburites and the Gurney- 
ites, soon occurring, he retired with the former, and 
preserved, through the remainder of his life, unmo- 
lested and respected, his Anti-Slavery character ; 
while I lost what little caste I held among the 
Friends, many of whom were near and dear to me 
by kin, and some of them by the nearer and dearer 
ties of life-long association and friendship. lUit. 
Avith my family cares and labor for the cause of the 
slave, and the associations it brought me, I had no 
time or inclination to worry over lost friendships; 
and the relief from responsibility for the i)ro-slaverv 
attitude of the Society, was sufficient compensation 
for all I thus i"elin(|uished. 

JM-foic Icaxinii l'\ill liivci-, we had a vei'v interest- 



ANTI-SLAYERY REMINISCENCES. 23 

ing experience with a fugitive slave, named James 
Curry, an intelligent young man from North Caro- 
lina, whose thrilling stoiy I had narrated in the 
columns of the Liberator of January 10, 1840. 

After coming to Rhode Island, our house became 
the resting place for the advocates of freedom for the 
slave, wdien travelling, or lecturing in this region, 
unti] the fetters Avhich bound him were broken. 
William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Parker 
Pillsbury, Stephen S. Foster, Abby Kelley, Kenry 
C. Wright, Charles Remond, Frederick Douglass, 
Charles and Cyrus Burleigh, Lucy Stone, William 
Wells Brown and others of less note, w^ere often our 
guests ; and our children were born and bred in the 
atmosphere which these lovers of freedom helped to 
create in our household. The career of all these 
men and women should be w^^itten for the perusal 
of coming generations, as grand examples of noble, 
self-sacrificing manhood and womanhood, such as 
the world has seldom proved itself capable of pro- 
ducing. When my own dear father and mother 
Avere with us, as they often were, through their 
serene old age, the condemnation of slavery and 
the praises of liberty were always upon his lips. 
I can now seem to hear his rich, mellow voice, 



24 ANTI-SLAVEKY REMINISCENCES. 

as he strolled about the house, rccitin<;- in tlie sing- 
song (^)uaker fashion, tiie lines of Cowper — 

"I Avoukl not liave a slave to till mj- groniid, 
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep, 
Aud tremble when I wake, for all the gold 
That sinews bonght and sold have ever earned. 
No; dear as freedom is, and, in my heart's 
Just estimation, prized above all price, 
I would much rather be myself the slave, 
Aud wear the bonds, than fasten them on him;" 

or Montgomery's, on the Abolition of the Shive- 
trade by (Ireat Britain 

" Thy chains are broken, Africa, be free!" 
Thus saith the Island-empress of the sea; 
Thus saith Britannia, O, ye winds and waves! 
Waft the glad tidings to the land of slaves. 
Proclaim on Guinea's coast, by Gambia's side, 
And far as Niger rolls his eastern tide, 
Through radiant realms, beneath the burning zone, 
"Where Europe's curse is felt, her name unknown, 
Thus saith Britannia, empress of the sea, 
" Thy chains are broken, Africa, be free!" 

And, other quotations of similar character. The 
songs of freedom from our young poet Whittier, 
then being issued from the press, my father was too 
old to commit to his already well-stored memoiy. 
The Lihd-afor and thi' Anli ►Slavery Standard were 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 25 

our favorite newspapers ; and Uncle Tom's Cabin, 
The White Slave, and other books of like purpose, 
were preferred before all others ; while they shared 
Avith Robinson Crusoe, the Swiss Family Robinson, 
and other story books, the ordinary reading of our 
children, in their very early years. 

As the Anti-Slavery agitation had created 
throughout the Northern States, an ever increas- 
ing sentiment against the inicjuitous system, it 
could not fail to produce some effect on the South, 
occasionally of sympathy, but usually of bitter 
animosity, which was continuall}' calling for the 
adoption of more stringent measures against North- 
ern influence and interference. Travellers from 
the North, were subjected to the most rigid es- 
23ionage, and sometimes, to personal indignit}^ ; 
one pious young man, selling Cottage Bibles, in 
Nashville, Tennessee, being publicly whipped, be- 
cause, his w^agon being searched, one copy of the 
book was found to be wrapped in a copy of the 
Liberator. A reward of $5000, was offered, by the 
State of Georgia, for the body of Mr. Garrison ; and 
it became entirely unsafe for any person who could 
not prove himself to be in favor of slavery, to 
travel in any State farther south than Pennsyl- 



2G ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 

vania and New Jersey. The slaves themselves, 
caught more and more, the excitement of the agi- 
tation ; and conseciuently, the nnmher of escapes 
increased, from year to year. 

Although the holding of human l)eings in the 
Southern States, as slaves, and the right to recap- 
ture them in any part of the United States, were 
guaranteed by our National Constitution, it was 
found to be insufficient, inasmuch as it did not 
make resistance to their capture, sufficiently penal. 
So, at the bidding of the slave-holding power, the 
famous fugitive slave law was enacted by the Con- 
gress of 1850 ; Daniel Webster strongly defending 
its adoption, on the 7tli of March, in a speech in 
the United States Senate, which has made his name 
infamous, in the reformed sentiment of New Eng- 
land. 

Still, the Anti-Slavery spirit grew and prospered, 
in proportion to the increase of the difficulties in 
its way. All through the States on the border line, 
were friends, who, in spite of the law, and the pro- 
slavery spirit around them, Avere ever ready to con- 
ceal, protect, and succor the fugitive, until he 
could be sent to the Ih-itish Dominion, where the 
shivc-maslci- could not reach him. INFany wen^ 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 27 

caught and returned to slavery, with all its hor- 
rors ; still, one way and another, there were a good 
many who did reach Canada, and thus escape the 
vigilance of the mercenary human blood hounds, 
who, as United States officers, were ever on the 
watch to make them their prey. 

From the time of the arrival of James Curry at 
Fall River, and his departure for Canada, in 1839, 
that town became an important station, on the so- 
called underground railroad. Slaves in Virginia, 
would secure passage, either secretly or with con- 
sent of the Captains, in small trading vessels, at 
Norfolk or Portsmouth, and thus be brought into 
some port in New England, where their fate de- 
pended on the circumstances into which they hap- 
pened to fall. A few, landing in some town on 
Cape Cod, Avould reach New Bedford, and thence 
be sent by an abolitionist there to Fall River, to 
be sheltered by Nathaniel B. Borden and his wife, 
who was my sister Sarah, and sent by them, to 
Valley Falls, in the darkness of night, and in a 
closed carriage, with Robert Adams, a most faithful 
friend, as their conductor. Here, we received them, 
and, after preparing them for the journey, my 
husband would accompany them a short distance, 



28 ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 

on tlie Providence and Worcester railroiid, acc^uaint 
the conductor with the facts, enlist his interest in 
tlieir behalf, and then leave them in his care, to be 
transferred at Worcester, to the Vermont road, from 
which, by a previous general arrangement, they 
were received by a Unitarian clergyman named 
Young, and sent by him to Canada, where they 
uniformly arrived safely. I used to give them an 
envelope, directed to us, to be mailed in Toronto, 
which, when it reached us, was sufficient by its 
post-mark, to announce their safe arrival, beyond 
the baleful influence of the Stars and Stripes, and 
the anti-protection of the fugitive slave law. 

One evening, in answer to the summons at our 
door, we were met by Mr. Adams and a person, 
apparently in a woman's Quaker costume, whose 
face was concealed by a thick veil. The person, 
however, proved to be a large, noble-looking col- 
ored man, whose story was soon told. He had 
escaped from Virginia, bringing away with him a 
wife and child. Reaching New Bedford, he had 
found empk)yment, which he had quietly pursued, 
for eleven months. Being a very valuable piece of 
property, (I think he was a blacksmith), his master 
had spared no pains in discovering his whereabouts; 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 29 

and, finally, traced him to New Bedford. Coming 
to Boston, he secured the services of a constable, 
and repaired to New Bedford, and went prowling 
round in search of his victim. But, the colored 
people of that town, discovered their purpose, com- 
municated with some of the few abolitionists, and 
the man was hurried off to Fall River, before 
the man-stealers had time to find him ; and the 
Friends there, dressed him in Quaker bonnet and 
shawl, and sent him off in the daylight, not daring 
to keep him till night, lest his master should follow 
immediately. He said he carried a revolver in his 
pocket, and, if his master should overtake him on 
the road, he would defend himself to the death of 
one of them, for, no slave would he ever be again. 
We sent him off on the early morning train, with 
fear and trembling ; but, had the happiness in a 
few days, to learn of his safe arrival, of his having 
procured work, at once ; and, afterwards, that he 
had been joined by his wife and child. His master, 
after searching for him a whole day, in New Bed- 
ford, had returned to Boston, very much disgusted 
with the indifference of the " Yankee Mudsills," 
(as the lordly Southerners used to call New Eng- 
landers), to the misfortunes of the slave-holders ; 



30 ANTI-SLAVEUY KE-MINISCENCES. 

and wrote an indignant letter to a Boston pro- 
slavery iH'Wspapcr, in which lie complained bitterly 
of their want of syni[)athy and co-o])eration, in his 
endeavor to recover his property. He said that, 
when he arrived in New Bedford, the bells were 
i-un^-, to annoan(;e his coming, and warn his slave, 
thus aiding in his escape; and that, every way, he 
was badly treated. The truth was, as we afterward 
learned, that he arrived at nine o'clock in the 
morning, just as the school-bells were ringing; and 
he understood this as a personal indignity. 

Another time, we were aroused about midnight, 
by the arrival of the good friend Adams, Avith two 
young men, about twenty-four 3'ears old. They 
also were from Portsmouth, Virginia. They had 
each secured a passage on a small trading vessel, 
bound to Wareham, Massachusetts, through the 
friendly interest of the colored steward, but with- 
out the knowledge of each other, or of the Captain 
and crew of the vessel ; and the}- were strangers to 
one another before their escape. Tlie steward con- 
cealed one in the hold, and the other in his own 
berth, in the little cabin he had all to himself, and 
he carried them food in the night. The}^ belonged 
to difl'erent masters, and had each a wife and child. 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 31 

whom tliey said they would never have left, had 
they not learned that they were soon to be separ- 
ated from them, and sold to the far South. So 
cruel was slavery in this country, less than forty 
years ago! They were three days on the voyage. 
Before their arrival, the steward told them of the 
presence of each other, and, as they would reach 
the i)Ort in the night, he requested them to remain 
concealed, until three o'clock the next afternoon, 
at which time, he should have left the vessel, as he 
should not engage for a return voyage. Then he 
instructed them how to proceed when they reached 
the shore. The rest of the story I will give as 
nearly as I can, in the words of the man who oc- 
cupied the steward's berth, premising, that it was 
then a time of extreme cold weather, about the 
last of Februar}^; the ground being covered with 
ice and snow, and everj^thing in a freezing condi- 
tion. 

" I was lyin' in de berth, while dey was un- 
loadin' de cargo, an' I heered some one comin' 
toward de place where I lay. Dere had ben a leak 
in de vessel, an' de Cap'n, he was searchin' round 
tryin' to find it. I covered myself wid de bed- 
cloes, and flattened myself out like a plank, so 1 



82 ANTI-SLAVEHY KEMINlSrENC'ES. 

c'ouldiri be seen. Ho come an' reached over uie, 
feelin' along de side o' de vessel for de leak, and, as 
he drew back liis liand, it hit my head ; an' den ho 
stripped oft' de does, an' dere I lay. Oh ! den, I 
fell to beggin' an' pray in' him to let mo go, bnt he 
went out widout speakin' a word, an' I heered him 
bolt two doors between me an' do deck. Ho meant 
to carry me back ; but, God knows I couldn't go 
back dere no more, an' I alongside o' dat wharf. 
j\Iy coat, an' my hat, an' my shoes, was under dat 
berth, but I didn't stop for dem ; and 1 bust open 
de two doors, reached de deck, an' jumped on de 
wharf, before doy had time to stop mo. De Cap'n, 
he called to do men to seize me, but dey never 
moved ; an' I run up de street as fast as I could. 
I found de colored woman and her son, de steward 
tole me to go to, an' doy took me in, an' do neigh- 
bors come in; an' dey warmed me, an' fed me, an' 
put does on me, an' I don' know what dey didn't 
do to me." 

Then the poor, brave fellow told them there was 
another fugitive on board the vessel. And an old 
white man said he knew the Captain, and ho 
would go down and get him off. So, he went ; it 
was dark, and ho su(;ceedod in linding the man in 



ANTI- SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 33 

the hold, and brought him away without discovery; 
and the Captain and sailors never knew that a 
second slave had been their passenger. But, the 
Captain, hoping to set himself right with his 
patrons North and South, and make it safe for him 
to return to Virginia with his trade, went to New 
Bedford, and offered, through an advertisement, in 
a paper in that city, a reward of five hundred dol- 
lars, for the return to him of this young man, who 
had so dexterously eluded his grasp. But, he did 
not find him. He, with his fellow-traveller, was 
sitting by our fireside, while, with bolted doors and 
barred windows, we were hastily, with the help of 
one of our neighbors, fitting them out with warmer 
clothing for their wintiy journey northward. We 
had no time for an^^thing more than to pick up 
what we could find, whether it fitted them or not ; 
for Ave dared not keep them longer than was abso- 
lutely necessary. And when one of them put on 
a straight-collared, round-cut Quaker coat, which 
w^as much too large for him, the grotesqueness of 
his appearance caused them as well as ourselves, 
much merriment, despite the sombre aspect of the 
situation. 

3 



'{4 ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 

Our noiglibor.s did not all sympathize with our 
thus setting at nought, the law of the land ; which 
Daniel AVebster, the great expounder, had so se- 
verely implored us to obey. (One pious old dea- 
con, in the Baptist Church, said, when the story 
got abroad, that we had no right thus to violate the 
law of the land.) Had the slave-catchers come for 
those young men, we should not have opened our 
doors to them, and we should have done every- 
thing in our ])o\ver, consistent with our peace 
principles, to prevent their capture. The conse- 
quences woukl, probably, have been serious to us, 
but we were prei)ared for whatever they might be, 
feeling sure, that we were obeying a higher and 
more imperative law. Our children and our ser- 
vants entered heartilv into our sentiments, although 
some of our Christian neiglibors did not. 

The fugitives reached Canada in safety, as the 
j'eturned post-mark soon informed us; but. whether 
they were ever joined b}^ their wives and children, 
we never learned. 

Another night, good Robert Adams aroused us 
with a carriage full — a woman and three children. 
She liad escaped from Maryland, some time before, 
with her family^ and established herself at l^^ill 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 35 

River, as a laundress ; had made herself a home, 
and was doing well. Her eldest boy, of seventeen 
years, worked in a stable ; and, after a while, had 
gone six miles away to work foj* a farmer. Soon 
after this, the same officer wiio arrested Anthony 
Burns, in Boston, arrived in Fall River, and was 
seen prowling around the neighborhood where 
colored people lived ; and, especially and suspi- 
ciously, peering into the stable, where this woman's 
son had previously worked. Always living in fear, 
in this so-called " land of liberty," her excitement 
was extreme, when learning these facts. The 
friends of the slave, also, understood the good 
reasons there were for these fears, since the State 
of Massachusetts had so recently bowed to the 
slave-power, and, in spite of the remonstrances and 
entreaties of the best citizens of the State, had 
cruelly sent back into slavery, the man whom this 
miscreant had captured, for the reward it would 
bring him. So, they hurried this woman off, with 
her three children, in the darkness of night, to 
await, at Valley Falls, the disposal of her house- 
hold effects, and the bringing of her son from the 
farmer's. We kept them three or four days, in 
hourly fear and expectation of the arrival of the 



36 ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 

slave-catcher ; our doors and windows fastened Ijy 
day as well as by night, not daring to let our neigh- 
bors know who were our guests, lest some one 
should betray them. We told our children, all, at 
that time, under fourteen years of age, of the fine 
of one thousand dollars, and the imprisonment of 
six months, that awaited us, in case the officer 
should come, and Ave should refuse to give these 
poor people up ; and they heroically planned, how, 
in such an event, they would take care of every- 
thing ; and, especially, that they would be good, 
and do just as we wished, during our absence. 
The Anti-Slavery s})irit pervaded our entire house- 
hold, during those eventful years. In this case, 
our faithful Irish servants declared, that they 
would fight, before this woman and her children 
should be carried into slavery ; and they Avere 
ready and willing to bear their share of the burdens 
incident to the occasion. So, Ave Avaited, and kept 
our secret. On the third or fourth day, the boy 
arrived, with money from the good friends at Fall 
River, and we sent them olf, still fearing their cap- 
ture on the road. The laws of the slave States, 
condemned the cliildren of a slave mother, to 
f(^llow her condition ; so that, if the father was a 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 37 

free man, the children were all slaves. And, as the 
fathers were often white men, not seldom the slave- 
owners themselves, this was a very profitable ar- 
rangement ; and frequently resulted in children 
being not only held as slaves, but, in their being- 
sold on the auction block, by their own fathers. 
The beautiful quadroon girls, sold in the Southern 
markets, at enormous prices, carried in their veins, 
the highest and noblest blood of the aristocracy of 
the' Southern States ; and, could their history be 
Avritten, it would tell a tale of woe and sin and 
outrage, 

" Which no human tongue can speak." 

In the case of the family of whom I write, the 
children were all boys ; but, the youngest child, 
only a little over two years old, had evidently been 
born since the escape from slavery, and was nearly 
white ; and the mother seemed to think he had 
more right to freedom than the others; and she said 
he should never be carried into slavery. So, when 
they were going off, I told her if they were caught 
on the train, to give him to some kind looking per- 
son, and request him to bring him to rne, and I 
would keep him ; and that relieved her, although, 



38 ANTI- SLAVERY IIEMINISCENCEW. 

had they been caught, it is not certain tliat she 
could have saved him thus. ]\Iy husband accom- 
})anied tlioni a i)art of the way to Worcester, and 
told their story to the conductor, Avho promised to 
see that they were safely started on the ^^ermont 
road. When he came back, he told Mr. Chace, 
that the Superintendent at Worcester, said the^^ 
should be taken care of, and, if no train was going 
North soon enough to secure their safety, he would 
put on an extra train. 

The few days which followed, were full of anx- 
iety ; but the envelope came back with the Toronto 
post-mark, and the man-stealers lost their prey. 
We had a few more experiences Avitli escaped slaves, 
which were of less interest ; but in all of them we 
were surprised at the amount of intelligence and 
sharp-sightedness displayed b}- these victims of 
cruelty. And, indeed, they often appeared to have 
a keener sense of the difference between right and 
wrong, than we should have supposed possible 
under the circumstances in which they had lived ; 
and which was far superior to that of the pro- 
slavery multitude, which filled the churches and 
market places of New England. Of course, it was 
the brightest and best who were capable^ of sur- 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 39 

mounting all the dangers and difficulties of escaj^e 
from that terrible prison-house. I remember only 
two instances, in which we were deceived by im- 
posters. One of these was, when we kept, for ten 
days or more, an escaped burglar, from the Auburn, 
New York, State Prison, a remarkably intelligent, 
gentlemanly, light-colored, handsome man, who 
assumed the role of a fugitive slave, to be protected 
from the officers of the law, and who was, when 
they finally caught him, declared by them, to be 
one of the most desperate characters in the coun- 
try. He made himself very interesting and agree- 
able to us during his stay, by his stories of 
Southern life, by his elegant manners, and espe- 
cially by his great desire to learn our ideas about 
right and wrong, and for improvement of himself 
in all directions. He didn't do us any harm, and 
we hoped we did him some good. We never re- 
gretted that w^e had, for a short time, given him a 
glimpse of a life which was not criminal. 

When the Liberty party was organized in 1840, 
with James G. Birney as its Presidential Candidate, 
my aged father, always looking for labor in some 
enterprise that promised immediate results, gave 
his support to that party, while we remained firm 



40 ANTI-SLAYERY REMINISCENCES. 

ill tlie (iarrisoiiiaii idea, of no i)arlicii)ati()n in a 
Govoniniont tliat sanctioned slavery. 

The summer and autumn of 18-56, the year of the 
Fremont campaign, my parents spent with us. At 
a political meeting in our village, on a warm, sul- 
try evening, my father was speaking in favor of 
the Anti-Slaver}^ candidate, and, in earnest tones, 
depicting the horrors of slavery and the blessings of 
freedom, when, suddenly, he fainted, and fell pros- 
trate on the platform. We hastened to his side, 
supposing he was dying, and, I remember well, 
how, in my distress, I felt great satisfaction in the 
fact, that the last utterance from his lips, was the 
grand word, " Liberty." I knew, if he could, he 
would have chosen that. He recovered, however, 
and lived several years after, to bear further testi- 
mony in the slave's behalf; but not, like (larrison, 
to see slavery abolished. 

The campaign of that year, was a very exciting 
one ; and our children entered heartily into it ; 
and, when the watchwords of the parties were Hying 
in the air, and floating from every flagstaff, the}^ 
prepared, also, to display their several predilections. 
While two of my bo3S, Samuel and Edward, aged 
thirteen and seven vears, manufactured and swung 



ANTI-SLAVEEY REMINISCENCES. 41 

from the top of the well-house, the stars and the 
stripes, with " Fremont and Freedom " in flaming 
letters, Arnold, aged eleven, quietly constructed his 
flag, all by himself, and ascending to the top of our 
house, swung it out upon the breeze, bearing, in 
l)rilliant color, the motto of the Liberator, " No 
Union with slave-holders." I think our little girls 
sympathized with all their brothers, and rejoiced in 
the waving of both the flags. 

When John Brown attempted to free the slaves, 
l)y his attack at Harper's ferry, our family was 
stirred by strong emotions. On the dark day, 
when the grand, but mistaken old man, was hung 
on a Virginian gallows, a solitary strip of black 
drapery, on our door, reminded our neighbors, that, 
with us, it was a day of mourning. 

When the slave-holding power ushered in the re- 
bellion, by firing on Fort Sumter, the Abolitionists, 
hoping to avert the horrors of a protracted civil war, 
held meetings throughout New England, to arouse 
the North to a sense of the necessity to emancipate 
the slaves, as the only method by which peace 
could be restored. But, so blind were the masses 
of the people, that the pro-slavery spirit was re- 
newedh^ aroused thereby, and mobs and outrages 
once more, assailed the truest friends of the Nation. 



42 ANTI-SLAYEUY KEMINISCENC'ES. 

Ill our village, wo had a meeting appointed for a 
Sunday evening, to be addressed by Henry C. 
Wright, one of the firmest friends of humanity, 
this country has ever known. A few pro slavery 
politicians encouraged some " rude fellows of the 
baser sort," to })repare themselves to break uj) the 
meeting. Anti-Slavery friends came from Provi- 
dence and Pawtucket ; and, accompanied by the 
speaker, we all walked over to the hall ; rumors of 
the intended disturbance having reached our ears. 
As we approached, we saw rough looking men 
standing about, and, as soon as Mr. AVright began 
to speak, a crowd of tliem entered and seated them- 
selves. They hissed and groaned and stamped, 
until, after several vain attempts to make himself 
heard, he was compelled to give up the struggle, 
and, in the midst of great noise and confusion, we 
passed out, accompanied by the mob. We Aboli- 
tionists formed a solid phalanx around our speaker, 
the children among us, while we walked (piietly, 
the distance to our house, the mob following close 
upon us, with yells and shouts and threats of vio- 
lence, and the occasional hurling of a stone ; thus 
})roviiig their intention to do us harm. When we 
reached our iintc, thcv halted ; and, when we en- 



ANTl-SLAVEEY REMINISCENCES. 43 

tered the hoqse, they dispersed, apparently wearied 
with their evil work, or, perhaps, ashamed and 
awed by our non-resistant attitude. 

Tl^en came another duty to the Anti-Slavery 
workers. As, through all the preceding years, we 
had circulated petitions to Congress, for the aboli- 
tion of slavery in the District of Columbia, and the 
Territories, we now began to petition the President, 
Abraham Lincoln, to issue a proclamation of eman- 
cipation, as the only means of staying the tide of 
bloodshed and distress, which threatened our coun- 
try with destruction ; and, as an act of tardy justice 
to the bruised and tortured victims of our national 
cruelty. His first reply to such petitions was, that 
he intended to put down the rebellion. If he could 
do it without abolishing slavery, he should. And 
so, the war went on ; millions of treasure were 
wasted, young manhood bled on the battle field, and 
mothers' hearts were rent and torn. And when, 
after years of strife and bloodshed, the President 
did finally, as a military necessity, issue the procla- 
mation of emancipation, we rejoiced with exceeding 
great joy ; and made no resistance to the honor it 
gave him, as the emancipator. And, when he was 
stricken down by the assassin's hand, no more 



44 ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 

sorrowing mourners than we, wept over the sad 
event. 

In tlie confusion and difliculty that followed tliis 
sudden overthrow of slavery, Avhich threw the 
emancipated slaves, without any resources, upon 
tlu'ir own responsibility, much remained to l)e done 
to save them from starvation, nakedness and home- 
lessness. The people of the Northern States were 
aroused to great activity in tlieir behalf; and a 
wides])read sym})athy and generosity were extended 
toward them. But, none except the long-tried Ab- 
olitionists, saw the necessity of all removal of race 
prejudice, and the establishment of the principle of 
a common liumanity. The public schools of Rhode 
Ishind, had, some years before this, after a severe 
and ])r()tracted struggle, been opened to colored 
(■hil(h-cn. And yet, about tlie ])eginning of the 
war, a lad of rare excellence and attainments, was 
refused an examination for admission, by the au- 
thorities of Brown University, on account of the 
color of his skin. In the year 18G5, while the 
Friends of Hhode Island, were contributing liber- 
ally and working devotedly, for the relief of the 
freedmen, the Yearl}^ Meeting committee, having 
chai'uc of the I'ricnds' school, in Pi-ovidcnce, re- 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 45 

fused admission to a boy and girl, the children of 
a respectable colored physician of Boston, who was 
to be sent, by a philanthropic association, to look 
after the welfare of the emancipated slaves in New 
Orleans, and who wished to place his children in a 
good school daring his absence. The committee 
Avere solicited to show their interest in the freed- 
men, by receiving these motherless children into 
the school ; but they replied that " the time had 
not yet come to take such a step;" and our ap- 
peals fell on deaf ears. 

My own convictions, long since established, were 
confirmed b}^ these and other similar experiences, 
that it is not right for me to give any countenance 
or support to charitable or educational institutions, 
maintained exclusively for colored peoi3le. The 
colored people are here, by no choice of their ow^n 
— members of our body politic ; and the sooner 
they are admitted to all the privileges of citizen- 
ship, and estimated solely by their merits and 
qualifications, the better for all concerned. It is a 
baneful policy to undertake to support two distinct 
nationalities or municipalities in one common- 
wealth, or two distinct social fabrics, on any basis 
except that of mental and moral fitness. 



46 ANTI-SLAVEUY REMINISCENCES. 

All those (jxpcriciices, Avcrc an iniportcUit feature 
ill the education of our children, wliich, circum- 
stances being as they were, I would, by no means, 
have had them deprived of. For, there is no better 
influence, toward the building up of a strong, vir- 
tuous manhood and womanhood, than the espousal, 
in early life, of some great humanitarian cause as a 
foundation. By such preparation, men and women 
are made ready to take up all questions which con- 
cern the advancement of mankind. The slavery of 
the Wack man is abolished. The shackles have 
fallen from his limbs, and he is crowned with the 
diadem of citizenship. It is too late to become an 
Abolitionist now. But, in the process of over- 
throwing one great wrong, there is always laid bare 
some other wrong, which requires for its removal, 
the same self-sacrificing spirit, the same consecra- 
tion to duty, as accomplished the preceding reform. 
So it has ever been. 

In the progress of the Anti-Slavery movement, 
experience revealed the great injustice, the detri- 
ment to human welfare, of the subordinate, disfran- 
chised condition of woman. Every step in that 
great reform, was impeded b}' the inequality that 
depressed and degraded her. And, these experi- 
ences were to the Abolitionists, in this, as in other 



ANTI-SLAVERY REMINISCENCES. 47 

directions, a liberal education. So, when the crime 
of shive-holding was overcome, they became the 
leaders in the Woman Suffrage cause, their chil- 
dren, as a rule, following in their footsteps, in the 
broader more world-wide reformation, than was the 
conflict for the overthrow of slavery. For, although 
we have not the chain, the lash and the auction 
block, in their literal sense, to comj)lain of, there is 
enough that is unjust and degrading in the condi- 
tion of women, to convince us, that the Avork to 
which this generation of reformers is called, is of 
far wider significance to the progress of all man- 
kind, than was the Anti-Slavery struggle. Blessed 
are they, who, when some great cause, " God's new 
Messiah," calls to them, " Come, follow me," are 
found ready to obey the Divine summons. 

" Then to side with Truth is noble, 
When we share her wretched cnist; 
Ere her cause bring fame or profit, 
And 'tis prosperous to be just. 
Then it is the brave man chooses, 
While the coward stands aside, 
Doubting in his abject spirit, 
Till his Lord is criicified; 
And the multitude make virtue 
Of the faith they have denied." 
Valley Falls, Rhode Island. 
3rd month, 3rd, 1891. 



< 



